Casket-handle.



A. M. HOLSTEIN.

GASKET HANDLE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 28, 1910.

993,996, Patented May 30, 1911.

' a m a Attorney.

- rrnrr a a:

CASKET-HANDLE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 30, 1911.

Application filed September 28, 1910. Serial No. 584,293.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ADOLPH M. HoLs'rnIN, of Syracuse, in the county of Onondaga, in the State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Casket-Handles, of which the following, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings is a full clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to certain improvements in casket handles and attaching means therefor in which the handles proper are hingedly connected to suitable hinge plates on the sides of the casket and are adapted to swing upwardly from their normal down positions to or toward horizontal positions where the further upward movement is limited by co-acting stop-shoulders to afford ample clearance for the bearers in handling the casket.

The hinge plates and handle tips are usually made of highly polished ornamental metal while the handles proper are made of both wood and metal either plain or covered with cloth. lhese highly polished metal plates and tips produce a striking and generally inappropriate contrast to the generally somber character of the casket trimmings and necessarily add considerable expense to the casket.

The main object of my invention is to render these trimmings more characteristic and harmonious with the general appearance of the casket by eliminating as far as possible the appearance of metal plates or handle tips and at the same time affording a wider range of ornamentation without sacrificing the strength or durability of the handle or adding materially to the cost of the casket.

A further object is to provide for the application of the plate ornaments after the handle proper has been secured in place to the casket so that various styles of ornamental hinge plates may be used in connection with the same handle or different styles of handles used in connection with the same ornamental plates.

A still further object is to construct the handle proper in a single piece having its ends forming the pintles thereby reducing the number of parts to a minimum.

Other objects and uses relating to the specific parts of the device will be brought out in the following description:

In the drawings. Figure 1 is a side elevation of a casket equipped with one form of my improved handle. Fig. -2- is an enlarged face view of one of the detached handles including the hinge plates. Fig. 3- is a rear face view of the same handle showing a part of the plastic body in which the handle bar is embedded in section. Figs. -4: and 5- are enlarged sectional views taken respectively on lines 4-4: and 5-5, Fig. 3, showing portions of the adjacent side of the casket. Figs. 6 and 7- are respectively a vertical sectional view and a horizontal sectional View through the metallic section of the hinge plate taken through the pintle receiving socket, the adjacent end of the handle proper being shown by full lines in Fig. -6- and by dotted lines in Fig. 7-. Fig. 8- is a sectional view of the bracket shown in Fig. 4- showing a portion of the handle as swung to a horizontal position. Fig. 9 is an elevation of the detached handle bar.

The preferred form of my invention is shown in the accompanying drawings and is adapted to be secured wherever desired in a manner hereinafter described to the sides or ends of the casket a;, each of said devices comprising a pair of handle plates 1 secured a suitable distance apart to the side of the casket and a swinging handle -2 having its ends pintled in the plates 1 so as to swing from a normal vertical position to a substantially horizontal posit-ion.

Each of the plates -1 comprises a metallic hinge section 3 and an ornamental covering -lof plastic material 1n which the hinge section 3 is embedded. The back or rear surfaces of the plate sections -3 and 4 are substantially flat and coincident so as to fit snugly against the corresponding surfaces of the casket to which they are applied. The rear flat surface of the metallic hinge section 3 is therefore brought into close contact with the surface of the casket to which it is secured by suitable fastening means as screws 5 which are passed through apertures -6 in the lower portion of the hinge section, thereby assuring proper securement thereof to the casket.

Each metallic hinge section -3 is provided with a forwardly projecting boss or housing 7- having a socket 8 extending thereinto from its inner end to form a bearing for the adjacent end of the handle section 2, said socket being quadrangular in cross section and having its upper side forming a substantially flat bearing 9- and its lower side provided with a stepped bearing 10.

The entire hinge section except the back and inner edge or end is covered by or em bedded in the plastic body a and when the entire plate 1 as a unit is secured in operative position on the casket, the entire metal section 3 is concealed by the composition plate -4 except for a Very small portion of the inner end which is practically concealed by the adjacent end of the handle section 2.

The front face and marginal edges of the composition plate l may be of any desired ornamental configuration or contour, capable of covering and concealing all portions of the metallic section 3 with the exceptions named, said ornamental configuration being usually covered by a fabric 12 of any suitable material, quality or color which may best harmonize with that with which the outer surface of the casket is covered. These composition plates 4:- are made from a body of plastic material having a base of putty or similar strongly cohesive substance together with a bond of ciliary substance such as vegetable or animal fiber and a sufiicient amount of adhesive as glue all thoroughly mixed so as to evenly diffuse or distribute the ciliary and adhesive substance in the base after which the plastic composition is molded in a manner hereinafter described to the desired ornamental form, or contour with a suitable recess therein for receiving the metal hinge plate 8. These hinge plates 3 with the handle 2 pintled therein are first secured by the screws 5 to the casket after which the composition plates or ornaments 4 are placed in operative position upon said metal plates and adhesively or otherwise secured to the casket so as to be self-retaining independently of the fastening means for the plates 3.

The handle section 2 consists of an arched bar or rod l3 of wrought iron, steel, or other strong and durable material and a covering or envelop 1 lof composition material which is usually the same as that of which the ornamental plates 4 are formed. The op osite ends of the bar or rod -13 are 0 set in opposite directions forming pintles 15- which are disposed in the same straight line some distance to one side of the central portion of the bar which is adapted to be engaged by the hand.

The main body of the bar 13 may be of any cross sectional form but the ends thereof are preferably triangular in cross section as thus shown in Figs. 4. and 8, two sides of the pintles being disposed at substantially right angles to each other and of about the same width as the upper and front sides of the socket in which such pintle is seated.

The width of the widest side of each pintle is substantially equal to or slightly less than the distance from front to rear of the socket in which it is located and normally faces the step 10 so thatwhen the handle is swung forwardly from its normal downwardly position, the normal innermost edge of the pintle will be rocked downwardly against the step -10 while its right-angle sides will engage respectively the rear and upper walls of the socket as best seen in Fig. -8, thereby limiting the upper movement of the handle to a substantially horizontal position and throwing the lifting strain upon the step --10 at the rear of the socket and against the frontedge of the upper wall of the socket.

It will be seen from the foregoing description and upon reference to Fig. 3 of the drawings that the metal hinge sections 8 are firmly secured in place with their sockets in the same straight line, generally parallel 105 with the bottom of the casket and their inner edges spaced a distance apart corresponding to the distance between the pintles so as to hold the handle against accidental displacement or removal from between the 110 bearings.

The inner portion of the handle bar 13 between the pintles 15 is inclosed or embedded within the covering -14., thereby effectively concealing this portion of 115 the bar 13 while the metal plates 3 conceal the pintles, the ends of the composition covering 14 terminating close to or against the inner edges of said metal plates. This composition covering -14l is 120 also formed around and upon the bar 13 in suitable molds, not necessary to herein illustrate or describe and may be suitably ornamented and covered with fabric to harmonize with the fabric covering of the 125 plates 4.

What I claim is larly-disposed walls to engage the walls of In a casket handle, a pair of hinge plates sockets. 10 each embodying a composition body and an In witness whereof I have hereunto set my embedded metallic section having a socket hand on this 20th day of September 1910. 5 provided with angularly-disposed walls, and ADOLPI-I M. HOLSTEIN.

a handle section embodying a composition Witnesses: body and an embedded metallic member, the H. E. CHASE, latter provided with pintles having angu- E. F. SPEAKING.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

